SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, MI — Dave Olvera says his new restaurant Olvera’s Texas Pit Bar-B-Q, opening on Gratiot in Saginaw Township later this year, will stand out because of his food's “authentic frontier taste.”

The new restaurant with western decor and patio seating will offer Texas-style, “authentic barbeque, like they have down south,” said Olvera, who is a co-owner along with his fiancee Miranda McMan. “Everybody’s going to be surprised. Everybody’s going to like it.”

Olvera said the menu is to include ribs, chicken fajitas, beef brisket, burritos and pulled pork sandwiches, among other things.

The food has an “authentic frontier taste because we use wood … we don’t use any charcoal,” he said.

Festival-goers might recognize Olvera and his cooking from Saginaw’s Friday Night Live, Saginaw Township’s Party on McCarty and other events where he sells his barbeque creations under the name Dave’s Texas Pit Bar-B-Q.

His parents Paul and Esther Olvera owned the former Casa del Rey restaurants.

Olvera said the new restaurant, opening at 6099 Gratiot in the former Cafe Suz, is undergoing renovations, and he aims to open by the end of summer. He said a lot of work was needed to get the restaurant into shape.

“It’s been sitting (vacant) for a good 10 years, so everything’s gotta be pretty much redone inside,” he said.

Olvera said he plans to offer a special steak night during which guests
can choose their own steak and watch it be cooked right in front of them
on the patio.

His sister, Elena Olvera-Martinez, his daughter, Nichole Clous and his son, Justin Olvera, all plan to work at the restaurant, which is to be family-owned and family-operated, he said.

Office Manager Olvera-Martinez said the restaurant business is a part of them.

“We've been in the restaurant business since we've been born, so it's in our blood,” she said.

When asked what it's like to be able to work with family, she replied, “It's great. It's awesome. I feel blessed.”

“I wish our parents were here to see it. They'd be very, very proud,” Olvera-Martinez said.